That said, this is a strong catalogue, arguably better than last year’s, and while the general view is that today’s pages are superior to yesterday’s, you’d have expected a lift off in the overall numbers anyway. Aggregate came in at R71,455,000 (last year R66,275,000), average R343,534 (R308,256) and median R225,000 (R200,000). While there remain 250 to go before the auctioneers today, it’ll take spirited bidding to beat the”topper” thus far, at R3,75million.

The determined underbidder was the welcome-back (after seven years away from the ringside) Sabine Plattner, who’d gotten lucky with a pair of Visionaires earlier in the sale. Sabine is a fearless investor, who’s had some fun with her Summerhill purchases over the years: J&B Met hero, Angus, multiple Group-winner The Waltz, 7-time winner Maliyakhe and five-time winner Xerxes, twice victorious in the past fortnight. That’s an exhaustive list: the least of them has notched up five, so her loyalties are not only welcome, they’re understandable!